Cyprus: Peace Negotiations

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his most recent assessment is of the progress of settlement talks in Cyprus.

David Lidington: The Government support the continuing negotiations aimed at reaching an agreed settlement on the island for the benefit of all Cypriots. The two leaders in Cyprus held their first meeting since elections in the north of the island on 26 May and spoke again on 3 June. Further meetings are planned at both expert and leader level in the coming weeks. Both sides have agreed to negotiate within the UN parameters and resume from where the negotiations left off on 30 March. Discussions continue to take place in a constructive atmosphere and are currently focussing on property. We urge all sides to grasp this opportunity and build on the considerable convergences achieved in the talks to date to achieve an early solution.

Yemen: Politics and Government

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his most recent assessment is of the security situation in Yemen; and what steps his Department has taken together with the Yemeni Government to tackle international terrorism following the meeting in London on 27 January 2010.

Alistair Burt: The UK is concerned about the security situation in Yemen. The terrorist threat in Yemen is high and we judge that attacks are highly likely, as we make clear in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office travel advice.
	However, terrorism is not the greatest or only threat facing Yemen today. We are particularly concerned about decreasing stability across the country and about the resultant increase in local conflict. Al Qaeda look to exploit instability where they can-the root causes of which are often wider social, economic and political problems. Rising insecurity, conflict and extremism in Yemen will pose a threat to UK long-term interests of stability in the region and beyond, including energy security and global trade flows. Increased radicalisation directly threatens economic and security interests in the Gulf and could pose an indirect threat abroad.
	Central therefore to the UK's approach to counter terrorism in Yemen is the reality that counter terrorism cannot be looked at in isolation. It is linked to Yemen's other security and daunting economic challenges.
	The attempted assassination of the British ambassador to Yemen, Tim Torlot, on 26 April 2010 highlights the stark threat posed by terrorists in Yemen, who have no regard for the lives of the innocent Yemeni citizens caught up in such atrocities.
	The Government of Yemen has committed publicly to combating terrorism both inside and outside of Yemen and has conducted successful operations, including against members of Al-Qaida in Yemen. The UK is committed to helping the Yemeni Government tackle terrorism in Yemen. Our bilateral support helps the Yemeni Government address the underlying economic and social causes of terror and radicalisation, and enhances their capacity to pursue and prosecute terrorists in Yemen. This includes through the provision of expert advice and through our increasing development programme.
	We have also been working in concert with other international partners, including as part of the Friends of Yemen process, to support and encourage reform in Yemen.

Northern Rail: Rolling Stock

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many additional rail carriages have been provided to Northern Rail as part of the High Level Output Specification Process, and how this compares with those allocated to other train operating companies.

Theresa Villiers: 18 carriages have been contracted to be operated by Northern Rail as part of the high level output specification process.
	Carriages contracted to be operated by other operators are as follows:
	
		
			   Number 
			 London Midland 28 
			 National Express East Anglia 188 
			 Virgin West Coast 106 
			 First Capital Connect 153 
			 Chi Item Railways 8 
			 Southeastern 48 
			 Southern 60 
			 First Great Western 30 
			 East Midlands Trains 8

Departmental Manpower

David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development 
	(1)  what his estimate is of the cost to the public purse of proposed reductions in numbers of non-front line staff in his Department and its agencies;
	(2)  what his most recent estimate is of the annual cost to his Department of redundancy payments for  (a) front line and  (b) other staff.

Andrew Mitchell: The Department for International Development (DFID) has initiated a programme to review our operating costs. Savings from this programme will be diverted into frontline departments to strengthen the delivery of our development programme.
	It is our policy to minimise any costs involved by redeploying affected staff and by not replacing staff that retire or leave DFID. Since specific proposal have not yet been developed, it is not possible to estimate the impact on staff numbers or potential costs.

Renewable Energy: Waste

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether he plans to encourage the use of energy from waste through anaerobic digestion; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker: The Government are committed to maximising the potential of anaerobic digestion from waste, to contribute to climate change, energy security, waste management and wider sustainability objectives.
	Biogas produced from waste, through a range of anaerobic digestion processes , can be used locally or injected into the national gas grid, to provide heat and power for industry and homes, or a fuel for transport. Increased uptake of these innovative forms of renewable energy is a win for clean energy, green jobs and waste reduction.
	However, anaerobic digestion is currently undeveloped in the UK and decisive leadership from Government, together with collaborative working with industry and other stakeholders, is required to rapidly ramp up deployment and build a strong industry.
	I am working with Ministers from DEFRA and other Government Departments to determine an action plan for increasing use of anaerobic digestion in the UK, and expect to announce further details later this summer.

NHS

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has for the future of  (a) National Health Service and  (b) his Department's IT systems.

Simon Burns: The Government will seek to achieve a more open market in national health service information technology (IT), complemented by a similar change in information provision, and underpinned by a framework of nationally-agreed technical and data standards that ensure interoperability. We aim significantly to improve local ownership of solutions, but recognise that any movement from the current national infrastructure must ensure continued value for money and maintain the benefits of national procurement.
	Plans are in place to upgrade the Department's standard IT hardware and software, the infrastructure on which systems operate, and the bespoke business applications used to process information. Any future plans will emphasise the need to achieve value for money on all investments made, and to further the commitment to lowering the Department's carbon footprint.

NHS: West Midlands

Harriett Baldwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his policy is on requests from West Midlands Strategic Health Authority that primary care trusts in the West Mercia form a cluster.

Simon Burns: The Government have agreed that funding for the national health service should increase in real terms in each year of the Parliament. In order to ensure that the tax payers receive value for money, the NHS must focus on delivering efficiency savings and reducing management costs is an important part of this. Regional and local proposals to do this should be discussed with those affected.
	We are advised that individual primary care trusts (PCTs) in the West Midlands believe they are not best able to deliver efficiencies by operating alone. The West Midlands Strategic Health Authority (SHA) has therefore introduced a new model of working in which it has created five clusters in which the 17 PCTs will operate; delivering efficiency savings and reduced management costs through close collaborative working.
	We understand that the SHA is clear that this development is not a precursor to PCT mergers. Individual PCTs remain responsible and accountable for their own performance for the overall health of their population and for commissioning ervices for their population.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much  (a) central and  (b) local government authorities spent on advertising to promote voter registration in each year for which figures are available.

Mark Harper: I have been asked to reply.
	 (a) Central Government do not have responsibility for promoting voter registration. However, under section 69 of the Electoral Administration Act 2006, local authorities are under a duty to encourage participation by electors in the electoral process. To support this duty, Government have made funding available to local authorities under an electoral Participation Fund. The figures paid to local authorities for activity in support of participation, including advertising, from the Fund in each of the last three financial years are as follows:
	
		
			   £ 
			 2007-08 170,000 
			 2008-09 500,000 
			 2009-10 150,000 
		
	
	  (b) as set out in answer to  (a), local authorities are under a duty under Section 69 of the Electoral Administration Act 2006 to encourage participation by electors in the electoral process. The amount spent by local authorities in fulfilling this role is not collected centrally.

Young Offender Institutions

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many strip searches have been recorded in each young offender institution in each year since 2006.

Crispin Blunt: Full searches (previously known as strip-searches) may be carried out in order to detect items of contraband secreted on the person. NOMS' National Security Framework permits establishments to full search young people (15 to 17-year-olds) and young adults (18 to 21-year-olds) held in young offender institutions (YOIs), both on a routine and intelligence-led basis. Records of foil searches conducted in YOIs are not held centrally. To provide the information requested would involve requesting and collating information from all YOIs which could be done only at disproportionate cost.

General Election 2010

Frank Field: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister in which local authority areas the chief executive was the returning officer for the parliamentary constituency of that local authority area in the 6 May 2010 general election.

Mark Harper: In England and Wales the majority of the Returning Officer's duties at parliamentary elections, including the conduct of the election, are carried out by the Acting Returning Officer, who is an electoral registration officer (ERO). The ERO is usually the chief executive of a district or London borough council in England or of a county or county borough council in Wales, although the council may appoint any of its officers to be the ERO. Details of the full-time employment of those individuals in England and Wales who served as Acting Returning Officers are not held by the Government.
	In Scotland, Returning Officers for parliamentary elections are officers of local authorities. For the 6 May 2010 general election all Returning Officers were local authority chief executive. The relevant local authority areas were: Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Clackmannan-shire, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Dumfries and Galloway, Dundee City, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Lothian, East Renfrewshire, The City of Edinburgh, Falkirk, Fife, Glasgow City, Highland, Inverclyde, Midlothian, Moray, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Orkney Islands, Perth and Kinross, Renfrewshire, Scottish Borders, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire, Stirling, West Dunbartonshire and West Lothian. In Northern Ireland the Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland is the Returning Officer for each constituency in Northern Ireland in the parliamentary general election.

Council Housing: Construction

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what representations he has received from local authorities and their representative bodies on the review of the local authority new build programme.

Andrew Stunell: There is no review of the local authority new build programme. However the Homes and Communities Agency will not enter into any new or further commitments against its uncommitted budgets until after the Budget in June.

Departmental Manpower

David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many  (a) front-line and  (b) other staff were employed by (i) his Department and (ii) each of its agencies in the latest year for which figures are available; and what his most recent estimate is of the annual cost to the public purse of employing staff of each type at each of those bodies.

Bob Neill: Communities and Local Government does not hold data for its arms length bodies centrally. Our three Executive agencies have however provided data directly. There would be a disproportionate cost in trying to obtain any further information.
	Available data give the following breakdown for the calendar year 2009-10 (provisional). In accordance with HM Treasury guidance a number of staff are funded from programme budgets. These staff are classified as being front-line.
	
		
			   2009-10 (provisional) 
			   Front line staff  (FTE)  Front line pay cost  ( £000 )  Other staff  ( FTE )  Other pay cost  ( £000 ) 
			 Communities and Local Government (CLG) 286.19 20,477 1,880.54 96,731 
			 Planning Inspectorate (PINS) 714 35,538 0 0 
			 Fire Service College (FSC) 210 9,282 0 0 
			 QEII Conference Centre 48 2,410 0 0

Departmental Public Expenditure

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when and in what form he plans to publish a list of all items of expenditure by his Department over £25,000.

Bob Neill: The department will publish on its website the contract name, name of successful contractor, contract value and agreed Contract Terms of all departmental contract awards valued over £25,000 by 1 September 2010.

Green Belt

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what his policy is on the Green Belt, with particular reference to applications being made to develop land designated as Green Belt; and if he will make a statement.

Bob Neill: holding answer 7 June 2010
	Policy on the Green Belt is currently set out in Planning Policy Guidance Note 2, Green Belts (PPG2), published in 1995. PPG2 establishes a presumption against inappropriate development on Green Belt. If a proposal for such development is received, the local planning authority has to consider whether any harm to the Green Belt would be outweighed by other considerations, and whether very special circumstances exist to justify planning permission.
	In the Coalition Agreement the Government stated that it will publish and present to Parliament a simple and consolidated national planning framework covering all forms of development. Announcements on the future of planning policy will be made in due course. However, the Agreement also undertakes to ensure that the protection of Green Belt by local planning authorities is maintained.
	Finally, I have already announced the Government's intention to rapidly abolish regional spatial strategies and return focus on planning and housing to local councils. Given that the regional spatial strategies have themselves been a source of 'top down' pressure to remove green belt protection their removal will strengthen the position of local authorities in protecting green belt.

Housing: Regeneration

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the effects on his Department's funding for housing market renewal areas of changes in public expenditure in 2010 announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 24 May 2010.

Andrew Stunell: The Housing Market Renewal Programme was included in the £6.2 billion of savings from Government spending in 2010-11 announced on 24 May. The current capital budget of £286 million announced in December 2009 has been reduced by £50 million. The mechanism by which this reduction is achieved will be subject to consultation. Individual allocations for 2010-11 will be confirmed after the emergency Budget is completed on June 22.

Local Government: Reorganisation

John Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what costs his Department incurred in contesting each judicial review of local government reorganisation for  (a) Devon,  (b) Norfolk and  (c) Suffolk.

Grant Shapps: The current costs incurred by the Department for legal proceedings in relation to local government reorganisation in Devon, Norfolk and Suffolk are set out in the following table:
	
		
			  Challenge against the Boundary Committee where the Secretary of State has been named as an interested party brought by:  Legal costs to Department (£) 
			 Breckland district council and others 62,450 
			 East Devon district council 31,820 
			 Suffolk Coastal and others 45,875 
			 King's Lynn and others 6,833 
		
	
	In addition, Devon and Norfolk county councils have challenged the decision of the Secretary of State in relation to unitary councils for Exeter and Norwich cities. The High Court has yet to hand down judgment in this challenge and hence the Department's legal costs arising from it are yet to be determined. However, to date the Department has incurred costs of £62,065 on this challenge.
	The Government have introduced a Bill into the House of Lords on 26 May which will stop the restructuring of councils in Devon, Norfolk and Suffolk. This will save the taxpayer £40 million in unnecessary restructuring costs.

Local Government: Third Sector

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the effect of mid-year reductions in local authority budgets on contracts with the voluntary and charitable sector.

Bob Neill: The contribution which local authorities are being asked to make this year to enable the Government to take immediate action to tackle the United Kingdom's unprecedented deficit should not impact on the delivery of essential front line services. It will be for individual councils to make decisions about where savings are found. We have retained formula grant funding at the level approved by Parliament for 2010-11 (£29 billion), and have also gone further by lifting restrictions on how local government spends its money, by de-ringfencing more grants. This gives councils the maximum flexibility to focus budgets on those services which local people most want to see.

Non-domestic Rates

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when he expects small business rate relief to become automatic; and if he will make a statement.

Bob Neill: "The Coalition: our programme for government" set out our commitment to find a practical way to make small business rate relief automatic. We are considering options and will make an announcement about how we propose to proceed in due course.

Social Rented Housing

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many cooperative housing units are registered in each region.

Andrew Stunell: holding answer 7 June 2010
	The number of housing units either owned or managed by cooperatives registered as a provider of social housing with the Tenant Services Authority at 31 March 2009 is as follows:
	
		
			  Region  Stock owned by co-ops (number)  Percentage of total co-op owned stock 
			 London 4,643 39.5 
			 South East 1,904 16.2 
			 South West 20 0.2 
			 East Midlands 711 6.0 
			 East of England 318 2.7 
			 West Midlands 1,080 9.2 
			 Yorkshire and The Humber 144 1.2 
			 North East 569 4.8 
			 North West 2,380 20.2 
			 Outside England 0 0.0 
			 Total 11,769 100.0 
		
	
	Social leased housing and non-social housing owned by small associations owning/managing less than 1,000 units/bed spaces) is not included in these stock totals. Figures for the year to 31 March 2010 are expected to be published in August.

Social Rented Housing: Lambeth

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans he has for capital allocations to the Decent Homes programme of  (a) Lambeth Living and  (b) United Residents Housing arms length management organisation in 2011-12.

Andrew Stunell: Neither the Lambeth Living ALMO nor the United Residents Housing ALMO has yet received a high enough rating after inspection by the Audit Commission to access additional funding for its decent homes programme.
	Funding for the decent homes programme will be decided in the context of the Government's spending review. Allocations to specific ALMOs will be decided once the outcome of the review is known.

Social Rented Housing: Standards

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans he has for the future of his Department's Decent Homes programme.

Andrew Stunell: Future funding for the decent homes programme will be decided in the context of the Government's spending review.

Travellers: Caravan Sites

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance he plans to issue to planning inspectors in respect of the treatment of appeals against planning decisions regarding housing on traveller encampments taken in accordance with requirements of regional spatial strategies in the period prior to abolition of such strategies.

Bob Neill: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government has now written to all local planning authorities and the Planning Inspectorate setting out our intention to abolish regional strategies and return decision making powers on housing (including the provision of Travellers' sites) and planning to local councils. That letter will be a material consideration in the determination of planning applications and appeals and the development of plans for Traveller sites.

Departmental Manpower

David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many  (a) front-line and  (b) other staff were employed by (i) his Department and (ii) each of its agencies in the latest year for which figures are available; and what his most recent estimate is of the annual cost to the public purse of employing staff of each type at each of those bodies.

Michael Gove: The Department for Education does not have any agencies, nor does it directly employ what is described as front line staff.
	The number of staff employed by the Department is available on the website of the Office for National Statistics:
	http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=2899&Pos=&ColRank=1&Rank=422
	The most recently published data in relation to the cost of employing staff in the Department are published in the 2008-09 Resource Accounts which is available at:
	http://publications.dcsf.gov.uk/default.aspx?PageFunction =product details&PageMode=publications&Productld=HC+448
	The Department's 2009-10 Resource Accounts will be published in mid-July 2010.

Credit Unions

Bob Russell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make it his policy to provide financial assistance to community-based credit unions.

Justine Greening: The Government have made clear that the role of social enterprises, charities and co-operatives will be enhanced. The provision of financial assistance is a matter for Ministers with responsibility for community-based credit unions in their own areas.